[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 45 (Tuesday, March 23, 2010)]
[Senate]
[Page S1820]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              HEALTH CARE

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, I agree with my distinguished counterpart, 
the Senator from Kentucky. The American people are not stupid. What we 
are now going to be on shortly is something we do nearly every year. 
Since 1980, we have done it 20-some odd times; 80 percent of the time 
it has been done by Republicans. We are going to move forward and make 
a good law we just passed and signed by the President today even 
better.
  This legislation will reduce the deficit during the first 10 years by 
about $140 billion, over the next 10 years by about $1.3 trillion. In 
Nevada, 600,000 people will be able to have insurance who do not have 
it today; 24,000 small businesses in Nevada will be able to have 
insurance for their employees. Why didn't they have it before? Was it 
because they were cheap or mean? No, they could not afford it. The 
insurance companies had a lock on the system. They could not afford it.
  There are so many good things, and I am not going to talk about all 
of them, in this law the President signed today, but let me talk about 
one thing because it is very personal. This legislation now will allow 
someone who turns 24 to still be on their parents' insurance when they 
are in college. They don't even have to be in college--whatever they 
do. The reason this is important is, Searchlight, NV, is a place where 
a hard-working couple had a child somewhat late in life. They love that 
boy. He is going to school almost full time, working part time. He 
turned 23 and went off his parents' insurance.
  Within weeks of his being 23 years old, he got sick and was diagnosed 
as having testicular cancer. He was real sick. He has had two 
surgeries. He has had chemotherapy twice. This has been paid for by his 
parents, who did not have the money to do this. They exhausted their 
savings. In America, that is not the way it should be. This law we now 
have takes care of a lot of people just like Jeff Hill from 
Searchlight, NV.
  For all senior citizens in Nevada who are on Medicare, we can close 
the doughnut hole; that is, people will not have to be concerned about 
arriving at a point with their health care delivery system where they 
no longer have coverage for prescription drugs. We take care of that in 
this new law. There are bipartisan ideas to attack waste, fraud, and 
abuse. We expand Medicaid Programs. Doing nothing means double-digit 
premium increases as high as 60 to 70 percent.
  This is a good law, and we are going to make it better.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. REID. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so 
ordered.
  Mr. REID. Mr. President, I move that the Senate adjourn until 3:05 
p.m. today, and I ask for the yeas and nays.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The question is on agreeing to the 
motion.
  Is there a sufficient second? There appears to be.
  The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk called the roll.
  Mr. DURBIN. I announce that the Senator from West Virginia (Mr. Byrd) 
and the Senator from New Mexico (Mr. Udall) are necessarily absent.
  Mr. KYL. The following Senators are necessarily absent: the Senator 
from Utah (Mr. Bennett) and the Senator from Georgia (Mr. Isakson).
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Are there any other Senators in the 
Chamber desiring to vote?
  The result was announced--yeas 57, nays 39, as follows:

                      [Rollcall Vote No. 62 Leg.]

                                YEAS--57

     Akaka
     Baucus
     Bayh
     Begich
     Bennet
     Bingaman
     Boxer
     Brown (OH)
     Burris
     Cantwell
     Cardin
     Carper
     Casey
     Conrad
     Dodd
     Dorgan
     Durbin
     Feingold
     Feinstein
     Franken
     Gillibrand
     Hagan
     Harkin
     Inouye
     Johnson
     Kaufman
     Kerry
     Klobuchar
     Kohl
     Landrieu
     Lautenberg
     Leahy
     Levin
     Lieberman
     Lincoln
     McCaskill
     Menendez
     Merkley
     Mikulski
     Murray
     Nelson (NE)
     Nelson (FL)
     Pryor
     Reed
     Reid
     Rockefeller
     Sanders
     Schumer
     Shaheen
     Specter
     Stabenow
     Tester
     Udall (CO)
     Warner
     Webb
     Whitehouse
     Wyden

                                NAYS--39

     Alexander
     Barrasso
     Bond
     Brown (MA)
     Brownback
     Bunning
     Burr
     Chambliss
     Coburn
     Cochran
     Collins
     Corker
     Cornyn
     Crapo
     DeMint
     Ensign
     Enzi
     Graham
     Grassley
     Gregg
     Hatch
     Hutchison
     Inhofe
     Johanns
     Kyl
     LeMieux
     Lugar
     McCain
     McConnell
     Murkowski
     Risch
     Roberts
     Sessions
     Shelby
     Snowe
     Thune
     Vitter
     Voinovich
     Wicker

                             NOT VOTING--4

     Bennett
     Byrd
     Isakson
     Udall (NM)
  The motion was agreed to, and the Senate, at 3:12 p.m., adjourned 
until Tuesday, March 23, 2010, at 3:13 p.m.